Swap
by akteris
Summary: In which Lilith is irresponsible with a big gun and Mordecai isn't as cool as he seems. Mordecai/Lilith -Might improve the ending later.


"You can't hit shit! Switch with me!"

Mordecai was this close to blowing a fuse. Three times they had tried to blast away the same damn bandit camp by the junkyard. Three. And each time Lilith would find every excuse to play target practice on everything but the camp itself.

"Like hell we're switching!" she shouted as she pulled the trigger and fired a heavy blast at yet another garbage pile in the distance. The launcher on the car smoked as the shot went flying. Sparks teased the back of his neck as he made another wild turn away from a stream of SMG fire.

He was going to lose it. He was going to. He was going to start screaming at something or just let the automatic rip through every dipshit howling towards their ride. But then everything sort of clicked into place when he saw what her final shot had accomplished.

There was a high pitched hissing sound in the distance followed by a huge, hearty BANG. Trash went flying through the air, and what appeared so solid about the pile of junk she had been shooting at was no more. Everything came crashing down, every jagged old piece of scrap metal and every rusty pipe. Shards of the stuff scattered in just about every direction, puncturing whatever it could find. Lilith was grinning like a mad woman.

"Do you know how long I've been trying to hit that canister up there? Lucky for me your driving was slow as hell today!" And she was shouting all of this with the most pleasantly hysterical tone of voice. Bandits were getting shred to bits and those freaky little psychos were trying to screech over the sounds of the raining metal.

This was chaos. This was pretty much what Lilith liked to do when nobody was looking.

Or at least when she was around him.

Normally she'd have a good laugh from blowing a merc's head clean off, or she'd gloat about her witchcraft stuff being endless or something. But here, right now, was a side of her that was terrifying.

And, well, it was actually pretty attractive. But Mordecai would never admit that. Never.

His thoughts suddenly came to a halt as he felt something pressing against him. Lilith had jumped seats, landing on his lap to get a good grip on the wheel.

"Mordecai, what the hell is wrong with you? Pay attention!"

He had to keep reminding himself not to get lost in a moment during a fight. Things slow down all of the sudden and it's like nothing is real until you feel a stray bullet graze your side or you suddenly get a nice, leather covered fist to the nose.

But this was actually a little better than expected. Lilith on his lap? Not a bad way to slip back to reality.

She elbowed him twice though. And damn did that hurt.

"Hey, watch it girl! Don't think you're the queen of this damn car just cause you managed to get lucky with that trash heap!"

She let out what could almost be considered a cackle. He could feel her body snake upward lightly as she threw her head back to mock him before leaning forward to hit the brakes. Turns out she had managed to steer them away from all the chaos and find a spot where they could watch.

Damnit Mordecai, keep it together. You're supposed to be mad at her. You always are.

"Get off me, come on!" he managed to blurt out after a few seconds of looking her up and down. Which, of course, nobody would be able to see behind his goggles, but Lilith was always good at figuring him out.

"What? Never had a woman on your lap before?" And then she took it one step further and turned around to face him. It was crammed in the front seat already, and damn if he knew how she managed these kinds of things. "I'm seriously doubting that."

She was able to be really smooth about this. Experience maybe? Unless he was just kidding himself and Lilith had been planning this out or something.

Unfortunately the angle she was at was an… inconvenient one. So the first thing (or, rather, things) in his sights were her tits. On the one hand, he was glad for his goggles. On the other hand, he could feel a dull heat creeping over his face, and that could not go unnoticed.

"Okay, I take that back. I'm doubting it." She smiled lightly and spoke her words with her usual, low tone of voice. But there was something a little different about this moment.

I mean sure, Lilith was just Lilith to him most of the time. Perhaps "siren bitch" if he was feeling disrespectful enough. But now? He didn't know what to call her. Or just… he didn't know what to call this.

But then everything was daring to fade out as she let out a soft laugh and began to lift herself off of him. She looked more curious about the chaos unfolding over the ledge they had parked on than him blushing like a teenager.

But he wasn't quite ready for these new feelings to creep away and be forgotten. He made that clear by putting a gentle hand on her hip to make her hesitate.

"No- don't. I changed my mind. You're fine." His tone wasn't as stern as he had hoped it would be. It sounded more needy than anything, and he wanted to punch himself for letting a feeling like that slip out in the open.

He played team leader half the time in their little group. Letting them know he was still human somewhere inside wasn't good for keeping up a reputation.

Not that his team cared much. They were all friends. But he still felt the need to play it tough.

Lilith stopped, letting out a small sigh before resting right back on his lap. She lifted his head up lightly with the side of her hand, raising a brow and staring straight through his goggles with a barely there smile.

"Really? Because _you_ don't look too fine." Again with that damn tone of hers. Why hadn't he noticed this before?

The hand on her hip eased down to her thigh, and it took him a moment to realize that she was guiding him along. He froze up, but not noticeably. It was more of an inside thing. His feelings were refusing to jump out at him or urge him to react on the impulses swirling around his head.

Nervous. He actually couldn't believe he was nervous.

"Hey, come on. Aren't you supposed to be calling me names by now?" The warmth of her hand against his was all he could focus on. Mordecai didn't say anything, he just kept letting her guide him around. "Or is your callous leader act really all that important?"

She rolled her eyes a few times when he'd urge to pull his hand away, but then set it right back. After a few minutes of hesitant exploring (guided by Lilith the whole time), his hand was spread just above her breast, his fingers lightly settled on her collar bone.

But he couldn't move. Damnit, he couldn't do anything. Why was this so difficult?

"Lilith-" he began, "I'm not gonna be good with excuses here, but… I jus' don't know if this is a good idea. Never really done something like this before." He eased his hand up to rest on the side of her neck, indulging in the feeling of her skin, and how she breathed a little less even when he brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "Never been interested."

"Until now?" She spoke up, but not in her usual tone. It was almost hopeful. He really didn't know how to respond to that.

Perhaps all of this hesitation was because of what it could mean for them. Having a quick bang with someone and leaving the next day is something that was practically a ritual on Pandora. No commitments, no ties. Only in it for the pleasure and the release. Then you're gone to fight another day or at least die trying.

Besides, Mordecai wasn't really the "quick bang" type. His idea of a pleasure kick was storming a camp and watching Bloodwing tear a couple of mercs to pieces. Or being able to pierce a bullet right between the eyes of an unsuspecting Skag. The hunt was always his stress relief.

Hell, he hadn't even kissed her and he was already thinking about how things could go. Maybe they'd do this all the time. Maybe they'd fuck. Maybe that's what their friendship would turn into. And then, maybe they'd get bored.

Getting bored was bad for anyone around these parts. It made you antsy, hateful. And as much as she bothered the hell out of him at times, he didn't hate Lilith.

And he never wanted to set himself up to hate her either.

Damn, he zoned out again. He sank back into reality under the impression that she had been talking to him. She crossed her arms, giving him a less than amused look.

"Great. You didn't hear me at all, did you?"

Fuck. He was really bad at this.

"Sorry. Just thinkin' about things."

She could have asked about what, but she didn't. Instead she leaned against the wheel, letting her head drop back so she could look up at the sky.

It was pretty dark already. The hysteria below had all but dissipated. There was the occasional clank of loose debris, but nothing too dynamic. The quiet that had settled in could almost be considered too sudden, but everything around here was pretty unexpected.

It fit the mood pretty well too.


End file.
